Football

Defending champions Orlando Pirates face a tough task after being drawn to play Civics in the Leo NFA Cup Round of 16 at Soccer House on Wednesday morning. In a strange twist of fate it was the third successive year that the two teams have been drawn to face each other in the second round. Another interesting fact is that the winner has each time gone on to win the trophy, with Civics winning in 2008 and Pirates in 2009.

The match was the stand out clash for the Round of 16 matches to be played on April 9 and 10, after the draw was made at Soccer House on Wednesday morning.

The Brave Warriors left for Seychelles on Tuesday morning in preparation for their African Championship (CHAN) match on Saturday, 13 March. The CHAN competition only caters for home-based players who ply their trade in local leagues on the African continent, and as such, the Brave Warriors squad shows several changes to the one that drew 1-1 against South Africa in an international friendly on March 3.

Namibia came from behind to beat Angola 2-1 in a hard fought and physical first leg African Women's Championships qualifier at the Sam Nujoma Stadium on Sunday. Angola’s centre forward and captain Irene Goncalves put the visitors ahead on 37 minutes, but second half goals by Thomalina Adams and Lena Fredericks gave Namibia a 2-1 victory.

Namibia now take a slender lead into the second leg encounter in Luanda on March 19, with the aggregate winner set to qualify for the finals in South Africa later this year.

Namibia’s most lucrative cup competition, the Leo NFA Cup was overshadowed by crowd unrest during the African Stars-Tigers match at the SKW stadium on Saturday evening.

With Stars leading 1-0, violence erupted midway through the second half when a fan on the packed western main stand started throwing bottles at opposing fans. Spectators started running in all directions as fighting broke out and a security guard tried to defuse the tension by firing a warning shot.

The Tafel Lager Brave Warriors gave a sensational performance to hold South Africa’s Bafana Bafana to a 1-1 draw in a pulsating friendly international on Wednesday night.

Playing at a near capacity Moses Mabhida Stadium in Durban, Rudolph Bester momentarily shocked the 60 000 odd fans into silence when he put Namibia ahead on 41 minutes. But Bafana Bafana came back strongly in the second half and Katlego Mphela equalised on 70m.

The build up to Wednesday night’s historic football international between Bafana Bafana and the Tafel Lager Brave Warriors in Durban was muted on Tuesday as rainy conditions and a lack of interest put a dampener on events.

A scheduled press conference at the Brave Warriors’ Hilton Hotel had to be shifted by close to an hour to accommodate a meeting of South African Football Association delegates including LOC organiser Danny Jordaan and SAFA president Kirsten Nematandani.

African Stars regained the lead in the MTC Premiership title race but they left it till late in their match against Blue Waters at the Kuisebmund Stadium on Saturday.

Midfielder Wycliffe Kambonde gave Blue Waters the lead on 65m and Stars seemed to be heading for defeat, but striker Heinrich Kazerua scored a goal in injury time to give Stars a share of the spoils.

The point saw them join Orlando Pirates on 36 points but move to the top with a better goal difference.

Civics outplayed SKW from the start to register a comprehensive 3-0 victory at the Sam Nujoma Stadium on Friday night.

Civics stunned SKW with a goal after only 20 seconds before running out comfortable 3-0 victors at the Sam Nujoma Stadium on Friday night.

From the kickoff, Nelson Geingob found Alfred Ndyenge in space on the left, who beat SKW’s outrushing keeper Diego Fransman with an angled shot.

Bafana Bafana head coach Carlos Alberto Parreira announced a 22-man squad to play Namibia’s Brave Warriors in an international friendly in Durban next Wednesday. The side consists mostly of local based players in the South African Premier Soccer League, while South Africa’s top foreign-based players have not been called up to the squad.

Some of the top professionals who are missing include their all-time leading goalscorer Benny McCarthy who joined West Ham United this month and has scored 35 goals in 83 appearances for Bafana Bafana.

Orlando Pirates went to the top of the log after beating Hotspurs 1-0 at the Sam Nujoma Stadium on Wednesday night. Pirates’ Cameroonian midfielder Ekane Ndile scored the winning goal with a fantastic strike midway through the first half in a match that was regularly disrupted by foul play and injury stoppages.